DESTINATION EAST COUNTY: TOP FESTIVALS AND EVENTS MARCH 15-APRIL 29

News

February 15, 2018 (El Cajon) – El Cajon Police are seeking witnesses to identify the driver who hit and fatally injured a woman pedestrian found still alive at 4:30 a.m. in the 1000 block of South Sunshine Avenue.She died while being transported to a hospital, Patch.com reports.

February 15, 2018 (San Diego’s East County) – Jason and Darinka Viau of East County are among 93 couples married on Valentine’s Day at County facilities.

They are planning a bigger wedding and reception in Mexico later in the year. Jason Viau said a few weeks ago, he decided he didn’t want to wait any longer to make Darinka his bride and suggested a Valentine’s Day wedding at Waterfront Park. She said yes.

February 14, 2018 (La Mesa) – Dr. Michael T. Long, a prominent neurologist and past president of the Grossmont Healthcare District’s Board of Directors, passed away on January 31st I Grossmont Hospital.

Dr. Long, who started his practice in La Mesa in 1967, was the founder and first president of the San Diego Neurological Society. He served for 12 years as a medical staff executive at Grossmont Hospital and was elected to the Grossmont Healthcare Board of directors for four years, serving as president for one year. He also served as Chief of Staff in 1987, and as Medical Staff Executive in support of the Chiefs of Staff from 1988 until his retirement in 2006.

February 13, 2018 (Julian) -- The Board of Directors of the Julian-Cuyamaca Fire Protection District (JCFPD) has voted 3-2 to negotiate fire protection standards for the community with the County of San Diego, if the County takes over that responsibility from the district. Many of the area residents who attended the crowded meeting at Fire Station 56 on Highway 79 today believe it’s the beginning of the end for the last volunteer fire department in the county.

February 13, 2018 (Borrego Springs) – Last year, visitors flocked to Anza-Borrego Desert for a superbloom – the most spectacular wildflower season in memory. But expectations are wilting for this year’s wildflowers due to lack of rainfall.

February 11, 2018 (La Mesa) – His motto is “community, kids and causes.”

Brad Weber, publisher of the brand new Discovering My City: La Mesa Magazine and other community pubilcations in our region, sat down for an exclusive interview with East County Magazine on KNSJ radio.

You can hear the full interview at our audio link, and scroll down for highlights.

Update February 11, 2018: Mrs. Scinto has been found near her vehicle , reunited with her family and taken to a local hospital for evaluation. See details below:

"We thank the public for looking out for Mrs. Scinto, as well as our Search and Rescue volunteers," says Sergeant Kristin Brayman.

The Sheriff's Search and Rescue (SAR) is an all-volunteer unit. Together, they perform wilderness and urban rescues, as well as search for missing and at-risk persons. Teams are available 24 hours per day to respond to local, state and federal agency requests. If you would like to volunteer, visit www.sdsheriff.net/volunteers.

If you have a loved one who has Alzheimer's or suffers from a physical or mental disability, you can sign them up for the Sheriff's Take Me Home Program. It's a FREE and confidential service that can help law enforcement find a loved one in the event they get lost or wander away. For more information or to enroll online, visit: www.sdsheriff.net/tmh.

February 9, 2018 (Alpine) – At the grand opening last week of The Willows Hotel & Spa, an adults-only luxury high-rise at the Viejas Casino & Resort in Alpine, located in San DIego's inland region, tribal chairman Robert Welch reflected told the crowd to "put on your sunglasses, because the future of Viejas has never looked brighter!”

The entire facility is reserved for adults only (families may stay at the original Viejas Hotel nearby). Each suite is sumptuously appointed and attention to architectural and design details are evident in craftsmanship throughout.

The Willows features a tower with 159 suites, a saltwater swimming pool, spa and salon facilities, restaurants, fitness center, and business center.

February 7, 2018 (Sacramento) – California could be heading into a new drought.Electronic measurements taken February 1st by the state’s Department of Water Resources reveal that rainfall and snowpack water levels remain below average, four months into the rainy season.

Update February 7: TRONC announced today that the San Diego Union-Tribune and Los Angeles Times have been sold to Nant Technologies LLC, a private investment company owned by Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, for $500 million cash plus $90 million in pension liabilities.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: UCLA

February 6, 2018 (San Diego) – Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, a biotech billionaire, is in negotiations to buy the San Diego Union-Tribune and the Los Angeles Times from TRONC, formerly known as Tribune Media, the Los Angeles Times reports. The would-be media mogul currently owns a 28 percent stake in the company.

February 6, 2018 (Santee) – Dr. John Longhurst from U.C. Irvine Health and his wife, Cherill, died in a plane crash into a construction yard in Santee this morning.A dog onboard was also killed; a second dog was injured and remains in guarded condition, ECM news partner 10 News reports.View video.

February 6, 2018 (San Diego) -- It is slightly less than 3,000 miles between the tiny village of Mompos, Colombia and Washington D.C. But of course it is in many ways farther then traveling to the moon. On a bright day in early 1961, my father, Ernesto Martin Barrera, and 16 other Colombian college students made the trip to America as part of a visiting tour of young leaders. They got to shake hands with a young American president who had his own dreams of trips to the moon, and they got to tour America.

February 5, 2018 (San Diego) – William R. “Bill” Clayton led the firefight that saved Julian’s historic downtown during the 2003 Cedar Fire. Just days earlier, the Cal Fire Division Chief led efforts to save nearly 200 people trapped in the Valley View Casino during the Paradise Fire—after coming out of retirement shortly before those devastating firestorms.

The most honored member of California’s state firefighting agency now known as Cal Fire, the division chief passed away in his sleep on Sunday, February 4th, of natural causes.

Clayton received the most awards of any firefighter in Cal Fire history, including twice earning the Medal of Valor, the state’s highest award for bravery.

February 3, 2018 (Julian) – The San Diego County Registrar of Voters Michael Vu, in a letter to Patricia Landis, has advised that a proposed ballot measure to raise fees to $200 in the Julian-Cuyamaca Fire Protection District had only 191 valid signatures—34 signatures short of the 225 needed to qualify.

Dept. of Fair Employment & Housing finds no violation of laws; Kalasho retains right to sue over alleged discrimination

By Miriam Raftery

February 3, 2018 (El Cajon) – The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH), in a letter sent to El Cajon Councilman Ben Kalasho on January 22, advised that following an investigation, the agency has closed a complaint filed by Kalasho against the City of El Cajon, Mayor Bill Wells and Councilman Gary Kendrick.

Kalasho, who is of Iraqi descent, claimed he was harassed and discriminated against based on his national origin. “I was denied a work environment free of discrimination and/or retaliation and subjected to differential treatment,” he contended in his complaint.

February 1, 2018 (El Cajon) --- Activists praise the end of a ban on feeding the homeless, but continue advocating for further changes in El Cajon.

At a food sharing event organized by Food not Bombs and Breaking Bread on Saturday, Jan. 27, transients and volunteers filled Wells Park. There was a swathe of donated clothes, blankets, and hand sanitizer, as international media attention brought additional support to the advocates who have worked for months to repeal the ban. Houseless people filled plates with beans, chow mein, bread, peach cobbler, and a chocolate cake which read “solidarity not charity.”

January 25, 2018 (Santee) – We’re proud to announce that East County Magazine is a finalist in the Santee’s Favorites survey! You can help by voting for East County Magazine here in the “media and entertainment” category. You can vote once each day, per IP address, now through February 4.

If you enjoy our local news and events coverage, or appreciate our wildfire and emergency alerts, please vote for us as often as possible and share with friends and family! Vote here.

February 1, 2018 (Spring Valley) – Thomas Jackson,28, has been arrested and charged with the murder of Aurice J. Turk, 25. Turk was killed January 4th around 9 p.m. in a reported fight near the Albertson’s on Campo Road in the Casa de Oro area of Spring Valley.

Hear our interview on KNSJ ith Mandy Mattis, No One Left Behind, on the Shurish family, how you can help this local hero and other translators relocated here after risking their lives to help Amreican troops.

By Miriam Raftery

February 1, 2018 (El Cajon) – Targeted by the Taliban for helping the U.S. military as a translator in Afghanistan, Ahmed Shurish fled his homeland with his wife and children, leaving everything else behind. They arrived here just seven months ago, building a new life in El Cajon.

But now his family has once against lost everything, this time in a fire in which Shurish heroically saved his neighbor’s baby from the flames. So the community is pulling together to help this hero and his family rebuild their lives yet again.

February 1, 2018 (El Cajon) – The County Medical Examiner has identified El Cajon resident Ronald Ray Hegwood, 53, as the victim killed January 24th in a motorcycle crash in Point Loma.

According to San Diego Police, Hegwood lost control of the motorcycle he was driving while traveling east on West Point Loma Blvd. He crossed into the westbound lane and collided with another vehicle, then also struck a parked vehicle.

February 1, 2018 (Casa de Oro) – The San Diego County Board of voted in principal to approve a blueprint laid out for the eventual revitalizing of the Campo Road area of Casa de Oro at last Thursday’s meeting.

February 1, 2018 (El Cajon) — Two pickup trucks collided shortly after midnight this morning at Jamacha Road and East Main Street in El Cajon.A 40-year-old Hispanic man was ejected from his 2001 Nissan Frontier vehicle and died at the scene.

Substantial relief to ratepayers: $873 million will not be paid to utilities over the next 5 years, resulting in $775 million reduction

East County News Service

January 31, 2017 (San Diego) – Citizens Oversight, also operating as the “Coalition to Decommission San Onofre,” today signed a settlement agreement with Southern California Edison (SCE), San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) and other ratepayer advocates to bring to a close the dispute over the amount ratepayers are obligated to pay for the San Onofre Nuclear Generation Station (SONGS).The nuclear plant was subject to an emergency shutdown on January 31, 2012, and permanently shuttered on June 6, 2013.

January 30, 2018 (San Diego’s East County) – You might be surprised to learn where the highest levels of ozone pollution are in San Diego County. Hint: it’s not urban areas in local cities, but rather, communities in East County’s mountains and desert areas.

January 30, 2018 (El Cajon) --- The driver of a green Ford pickup truck that crashed into a business at 1417 North Cuyamaca Street in El Cajon yesterday afternoon was taken to a hospital, where he later died of severe injuries. The identity of the victim, a 46-year-old African-American man, is being withheld pending notification of his family.

January 29, 2018 (San Diego) – What’s rarer than once in a blue moon? A “super blood blue moon” that will be visible shortly before sunrise early Wednesday morning.

The rare astronomical event is actually a full lunar eclipse, with the moon in the shadow of the earth for a “blood moon” effect, meaning the moon will appear reddish-orange. This blood moon is combined with a “supermoon” that is the closest point in the moon’s orbit to the earth, making it appear to loom large on the horizon.